Three robbers who kidnapped a jeweller, tortured him, and raided his shop disguised in an Islamic burqa before beating him to death and dumping his body have been imprisoned.
Thomas Jervis, 24, and Charles Mcauley, 20, were both sentenced to ‘life’ at Birmingham Crown Court, with a requirement to serve minimum terms of 33 years and 30 years behind bars, respectively, before they will be eligible for parole — a long sentence by British standards.
Callan Reeve was sentenced to 16 years for manslaughter, meaning the 20-year-old will likely be back on the streets by his mid-thirties — possibly significantly earlier, if the sentence includes time served ‘on licence in the community’, as most prison sentences in the United Kingdom do.
The court heard how the trio snatched 74-year-old Ramniklal Jogiya from the streets of Leicester in a stolen van and tortured him for the keys to his shop, before one of them, dressed in a burqa and pulling a shopping trolley, entered the shop and attempted to access the safe — without success, as it was on a 12-hour time delay.
Mr Jogiya, whose body was dumped near Leicester Airfield, had “suffered a total of 27 injuries including broken ribs, wounds to his face, hands and arms, and had died from a major brain injury caused by a severe assault to his head,” according to a Leicestershire Police statement.
“In short, he had been beaten to death.”
“These men had planned to kidnap and rob Mr Jogiya… They launched a sustained and ferocious attack on Mr Jogiya which ultimately killed him,” commented DCI David Swift-Rollinson.
“Today is the result of what has been an extremely intense six-month investigation with two men jailed for the murder of Mr Jogiya and one man for his manslaughter. My thoughts remain with the family of Mr Jogiya and I hope today helps them to feel that some justice has been served. I again thank them for the dignity, patience and co-operation they have shown throughout this nightmare.
“As before, I also thank the many residents and business owners in the Belgrave Road area for their help and co-operation during this tragic time and the many members of the wider public who assisted with our appeals and provided significant information in the case.
“And to all the police officers and staff who worked tirelessly on this case to bring the offenders to justice, I thank you for your exceptional efforts which saw this result reached today.”